


isn't it exciting? (what am I gonna do?)

by spinalchord



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventure, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Some Humor, War, Waterbender Yue (Avatar), Yue (Avatar)-centric, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), because she deserves it, bro what if we were both sokka's exs' and we kissed, pretentious btw, this is a Yue lives au, yknow what else she deserves? to be bisexual, yue thinks that suki's the hottest person to ever live
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28257678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinalchord/pseuds/spinalchord
Summary: In another, kinder, world, Yue of the Norther Water Tribe lives.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Yue (Avatar), The Gaang & Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	isn't it exciting? (what am I gonna do?)

**Author's Note:**

> 1, this is mega self-indulgent, 2, i haven't seen the actual show in a while so if i mess up the timeline or the details and dialough thats my bad lol, and 3, im in love with katara. like genuinely. like fr. and so im projecting onto yue

Yue of the Northern Water Tribe is well acquainted with hunger. She was born hungry, starving, so much that it leeched the dark of her hair and left her yawning and empty. She knew it like she knew the texture of her tongue, like the weight of her father’s expectations in her chest, like the sound of splintering ice.

Yue felt like a blizzard sometimes, fuzzy around the edges and frigid and cloying. She wondered, vaguely, what the rest of the world looked like. Yue moves on.

* * *

In secret, when the moon is full, she practices melting the ice in her room that’s packed so tight it’s dry. Sweat beads down her brow, fueling the fire. 

When she manages to coax the water from it’s bind, she draws it into a wobbling globe. When it bursts, a few tears slip out of her eyes in frustration. She settles her shaking hands and whispers a prayer to Tui. Yue moves on. 

* * *

Her father berates her. Yue tunes him out, head bowed and hair lank around her face, obscuring her eyes. She nods when it feels appropriate. 

She wonders which phase the moon will wane tonight, and fingers the fur of her glove. “Do I make myself clear?” Chief Arnook rumbles. Yue meets his eyes, skittish. “Yes, father.” She murmurs. Yue moves on. 

* * *

The Avatar arrives in a blaze of glory. Yue peers curiously at his entourage, and has to stifle a squeak of surprise. The skinny, pale boy in a thin set of satin-y robes with the arcane airbender tattoos is no doubt the Avatar. 

He has very kind features, birch-bark eyes and a wide nose and an adolescent grin etched in humor. He doesn’t look cold.

The girl next to him is gentle on the eyes, with long dark hair twisted into a plait with a southern-style ornament at the base, and loops that frame her round face. Her eyes are a very bright blue, and she’s clutching a rescue blanket close to her frame. Her expression is one of anger, trepidation, and bubbling excitement.

A boy disembarks from the bison loudly. He isn't as soft, rougher around the jaw, but with the same blinding blue eyes and thick hair. Where the girl’s is long and braided, his is pulled up with shaved sides. His face is longer, more chiseled. He holds his blanket close.

They don’t look real, the Avatar and his little rag-tag group, like they’re characters out of a spirit-tale. Yue wonders if she’d fit in, where she’d slot her presence, and a familiar curl of want blooms heavy in her ribcage. She turns away as her father greets them, ever rough. Yue moves on.

* * *

The boy is a despairing flirt, she learns at the banquet, “Sokka,” she muses, once he tells her his name. She likes the form of it in her mouth, the way it clicks behind her teeth. 

Sokka preens. “It’s a good name, right?” He says. Yue laughs, and agrees. He watches her with stars in his eyes. 

“Why don’t we do an activity together?” He asks, sometime later, propping his chin on his hand. Yue meets his gaze. She wonders if he hungers as well. “Define activity.” Sokka smiles, a real smile, and she finds herself a little bit smitten. Yue finds herself moving forward. 

* * *

Yue watches Katara storm across the pavilion, wrenching her parka off and shoving it into her brother’s arms. She finds her eyes drawn to the curve of Katara’s stomach and chest, the thick cloth of her dress flattering. Yue looks away, shameful and hot-faced, but looks back when the yelling starts. 

Katara is furious, jabbing a finger at Master Pakku, every muscle in her body pulled tight. The tendons of her exposed neck and hands jut from the force of her rage. 

Pakku sneers, and begins to walk away. Yue can see the angry sweep of Katara’s eyebrows, the way that they’re low over her eyes, the curl of her mouth. She whips the back of Pakku’s balding head with frigid water and calls him a sour old man. 

Yue can’t take her eyes away, even as the blood drains from her face in shock. She wonders if she’s created Sokka and Katara in her head, these perfect people, violently loyal and brutally righteous and charmingly kind. 

She silently roots for Katara, watching with reverence as her hair becomes undone, sticking to her sweaty face and falling down her back. 

  
  


Spears of ice trap the Southerner, and she snarls as she loses. Pakku picks up her crumpled necklace. “That was my mother’s.” She spits. He looks at the carved bone pendant in his hands with awe. “Kanna,” he murmurs, and turns back to Katara. “I will teach you combative waterbending,” he declares. Yue moves on.

* * *

  
  


The churning of the slushy river beneath the river is deafening as Yue clutches Sokka’s hand. “I can’t,” she chokes out. Her tongue feels too thick, her eyes are watering, her cheeks feel like ice. The pendant at her throat is heavy. For the first time in a long time, the hunger comes roaring back. 

She wants to take Sokka’s hand and she wants to kiss him and she wants to laugh and she wants to scream and break things and yowl. She wants to be loud and she wants to be heard, and is that too much to ask? 

With difficulty, she tampers down her urges, her dreams, her hunger and her rage and squashes it under the heel of her boot. “I’m already engaged to Hahn. I’m so sorry.” Her hand slips from his, and she turns away from his crest-fallen face. Yue moves on.

* * *

The siege is loud and violent and terrible. Yue is stuck in a tiny, humid room with a glow-y Aang, and a tense pair of bickering siblings. Yue gnaws on her thumbnail, catches herself, and smooths her hands over her dress.

A boy bursts through, and immediately Katara and Sokka are in defensive positions, Yue startling and stumbling backwards.

The boy is a mess of mottled bruises, with an odd mostly-shaved haircut and a distinctive hand-shaped burn scar over his left eye. Yue covers her mouth. 

The boy scowls. “TRUCE,” he snarls. His voice is shot. He holds his shaking hands up, and the beds of most of his nails are ripped and grotesque and pale from the cold. “I come in truce because Admiral Zhao wishes to kill the moon, and I cannot allow that.” His dialect is stilted, formal. Fresh blood oozes down his face from a grisly wound at his temple.

Katara scoffs, angrily. “Zhao can’t kill the moon, it doesn’t have tangible form.” Yue raised her hand. “Well,” she started, and horror dawned on the other girl’s face. Yue pointed to the pond, where Tui and La swam in tandem. Katara slapped her hands over her eyes. 

  
  


The boy shifted, and looked into the pond with interest. Sokka seemed to notice and karate-chopped him away. The boy _oomphed_ , clutching his ribs where they were struck in pain. 

“No way,” Sokka warned. “Princes of imperialistic empires don't get to look at the politically and spiritually important fishies.” the boy rolled his eyes, and shoved Sokka away, although he did step away from the pond. 

“Wait!” Katara yelled. She had taken her hands off of her eyes. “How do we know that this isn’t a ploy to kidnap Aang?” the boy (Prince?) scowled even harder. “I swear on my honor that my mission isn’t to kidnap the Avatar anymore.” 

Katara narrowed her eyes at him, before stabbing a finger in his direction. “Mess up and i’ll eviscerate you.” 

  
  


Yue raised her hand again. “Sorry, but who are you?” the boy cupped his hands into the sign of the flame before bowing, shallowly. “My name is Prince Zuko,” he said. His voice was fading in and out between a worrying rasp and breaking altogether.

“.. Right. And how did you get so banged up?” Zuko rose, crossed his arms against his chest, and winced. “Zhao tried to assassinate me. Blew up my ship.” He suddenly seemed more painfully awkward instead of menacing, now. It was a startling contrast.

Sokka massaged the bridge of his nose. “Tui and La, how did you ever manage to intimidate us.” Zuko snarled. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sokka laughed mockingly. “Buddy, I’m pretty sure an errant wind would knock you o-” He never got to finish his thought, because Admiral Zhao decided to kick the door in with a gout of fire. 

* * *

The fight was quick and dirty and hot and over in a flash. Zhao wrenched Zuko away from where he was guarding the pond, flame sprouting between his knuckles before the Admiral sent him careening into Sokka.

They landed with a swear, the Water Tribesman landing face-down on the turf and the Prince tumbled into a groaning bundle of limbs.

  
  


Katara sent blades of ice flying at Zhao, moving to stand in front of Yue, who was focusing intently on pulling his legs out with a tendril of water. She caught the man around the ankle and yanked upwards, Zhao slipping, eyes surprised.

  
  


Katara shot her an appreciative look, before stomping a foot and pinning his limbs with the dew from the grass. 

Zhao writhed, and spit. “You ruined it! They were going to worship me, after I killed every last waterbender! Zhao the Moon Slayer, Zhao the Righteous, Zhao the-'' Katara sealed his mouth. “What a douche,” She sighed. Yue deflated with a relieved sigh, pawing at the sweat on her face. 

Katara frowned at her. “You never told me you were a waterbender,” she accused. Yue smiled, sheepishly. Sokka sighed dreamily from across the room.

“It’s kinda a secret. I didn’t want to get forced into medicinal bending, so I just… never told my father. I’m not very good anyways.” 

Katara took her by the shoulders, and Yue felt her face get hot. “Nonsense, Princess! You have a natural talent, I can tell. With the right training, you’ll be unstoppable.”

The Southerner’s eyes got a little watery. “And I can’t believe there’s another waterbender my age who’s a girl.” Yue pats the dark haired girl on the back as she gets weepy and tries to offer a reassuring smile. 

  
  


Behind Katara, Sokka nudged Zuko with his foot. “Guys, I’m pretty sure that Zuko’s kicked the bucket, here.” There was a slapping sound as Zuko batted away Sokka’s boot, rolling over with a wretched groan of pain. “Stop doing that, jackass.” 

Aang awakes with a full-body shake, the ominous glowing of his eyes and tattoos fading into nothing. His face was uncharacteristically stricken, tears pooling in his eyes. “Guys, we have to stop Zhao! He’s gonna-” 

Sokka coughs, and points to the jerking, ice-bound Admiral. Aang gasps, delighted, and then exclaims a cheerful: “Zuko! What are you doing here?” Yue laughs.

* * *

When it comes down to it, Yue slips away from the Northern Water Tribe quietly. It’s a mild affair, boiled down to the bare bones, where a princess climbs onto the bison and gets carted away. 

* * *

  
  


Yue clenches her fists on the edge of the massive saddle she’s sitting cross-legged in. Peeking over the edge, the churning water is filled with carnage: boats destroyed and sinking, bodies in the ice. 

Zuko had left silently after Zhao was apprehended, eyes tired and wounds carved into his face. He met up with an old man, and the two escaped without a fuss. Yue didn’t mention him to her father.

Across from her, Aang looks haunted. His eyes are too sorrowful for his gentle face, and he looks at the ocean with dismay. Katara lays a hand on his knee, and all of a sudden, he’s wracked with sobs. 

Yue sits stone-faced and silent next to Sokka, gripping each other’s hands tightly. They can only watch as he clings to the girl, clutching her parka with bone white fingers. “I killed them! I killed them!” a mantra, over and over until it’s warbled and corrupted. The rest of the passengers sit in deathly quiet, and Yue mourns.

* * *

They burn their way through town after town after town, meeting new people. Yue cries when she sees the vast plains of sand and clay that’s the Earth kingdom. She sheds her furs, replaces her heavy dress with a pale tunic and trades her moccasin boots for travelling ones. 

She lets her hair loose, and allows Aang to braid it when he gets fidgety and flighty. Sokka and Yue decide that they’re better as friends, and after a spell of awkwardness they’re closer than ever.

They end up in a swamp. They see a girl, and Aang is transfixed. They find the girl in an underground Earth Kingdom fight club. 

* * *

She’s a tiny thing, with a mess of black hair thrown over her unseeing eyes. Her clothes are rich but dirty, her feet bare and soft. 

She’s a juxtaposition of nobility and brutality, and Yue is transfixed watching the brawl between her and the massive man that Sokka is practically foaming at the mouth over. 

  
  


The fight takes off quickly, ends just as quickly. She throws him out of the ring with little effort after exchanging jabs, and laughs as she hefts the champion belt high. “Who wants to fight the Blind Bandit?” She screams, and the crowd cheers. 

Aang jumps up at the invitation, and zooms away before Katara can snag the back of his robes. The girl, seemingly unneededly as it’s perceived that she’s blind, looks him up and down. 

She cracks her knuckles and grins. “All right, Twinkle-Toes. Let's get this party started!” She sends a spire of rock at Aang, which he spins away from. Her face twitches, shocked, and then falls into blankness. Lips thinning, she grunts as she wrenches her arms over each other, two columns smashing where Aang was a millisecond ago, following the course of her hands. 

It goes like this for a while, until Aang sends a gale that blows her over the lip of the arena. He yelps, and peers over the edge. The Blind Bandit looks stupefied, and lifts herself up, shaking the grit from her hair. “Huh,” she murmurs, and then squints upward. “Huh.” She scowls, and then limps off. 

Katara is red in the face, her mouth growing taut. “AANG,” she howls, and marches forward to drag him by the collar like a disobedient pygmy puma or a particularly rowdy child. “So sorry,” she smiles, strained, at the crowd and referee, hauling a boy almost as tall as her with little effort. 

Yue sits beside Sokka and laughs with him until her stomach hurts and tears stream down her cheeks.

* * *

Somehow, they end up in the Blind Bandit’s garden. She looks totally different, bangs brushed back, wearing pale robes made of luxurious material and a flowered headband. “What are you doing here?” she said, rough. Aang looked sheepish as he shook himself from the bush the rest of the team was snared in. “I know it sounds strange, but I saw a vision of you in a magical swamp and I think that you’re supposed to be my Earthbending teacher!” 

Yue grimaces as she yanks a chunk of hair from the branches. Sokka helps her detangle the leaves, and Katara grumbles lowly.

The girl shifts, again, crossing her arms. “Teacher,” she repeats, skeptical. Aang grins. “Yeah, I saw you in the rumble and it’s obvious that you’re a capable bender-” The girl cuts him off with a karate chop to the stomach that knocks the wind out of him. 

“Capable? I’m Toph Beifong, the greatest Earthbender in the _world_!” She puffs up and flexes, before jabbing a finger in Aang’s face. He goes a little cross-eyed trying to follow, still wheezing. “And don't ‘cha forget it, chump.” 

There's a rustle and clatter, and a pair of guards come jogging around the corner. “Lady Beifong? Who are you talking to?” Immediately Toph’s expression smooths and softens, fixing the hair that came loose in her exclamation.

She shrills her voice, and calls out “Guards! Intruders!” Immediately, the two armed men earthbend the group together, crushing them in a cocoon of dirt. 

  
  


Toph grins, slyly, but it drops when Aang yelps out a frantic, “But wait! I’m the Avatar!” She glowers as they’re led in for supper. 

* * *

The dinner is awkward, and messy, and ends with them getting kicked out. They end back up at the Earth Rumble. Toph and her parents are there, and she ends up showcasing her expert abilities with a steely face. She cries as they leave.

  
  


Sokka sighs, and readjusts his stolen (maybe?) belt. “That girl’s got spunk, I'll giv’er that.” Yue hums and throws a bag into the saddle with little effort. She’s getting stronger, she thinks a little giddily, and smiles to herself.

There’s a sharp cry behind them, a high, panting voice shouting, “Wait for me!” Yue turns, and sees Toph Beifong sprinting, holding a bag jauntily over her shoulder. She pauses to catch her breath, bent at the waist and hands on her knees.

  
  


“I’m gonna be honest, Avatar,” she starts, righting herself. “I thought you were a no-good pansy. But I see a real spark in you, and I think with the right amount of pummeling, I’ll make a fine Earthbender outta ya.” 

She extends an arm, fingers kinked likes she’s waiting for something to drop. “And I’d like my champion belt back, please, thank you very much!”

  
  


Sokka rolls his eyes before unclasping it and pitching it over the side of the saddle. Immediately, horror dawn across his face as he cries out a “Wai- “, Toph buckling under its weight with an _oomph_.

* * *

The addition of Toph to their group, in the end, does very little to the dynamic except for the fact that they now have ten times the bruises.

They still travel through towns and bicker and evolve and laugh. But sometimes they cry from the sheer pressure of it all, all of these deadlines and expectations. 

They’re just a couple of kids trying to undo a hundred plus years of damage. Sometimes it’s like attempting to hold the sky on your shoulders. They cope.

Katara finds an outlet for her anger and fear, and so does Toph in a way. They both seem to enjoy the screaming matches that turn into bending matches that end in them both being gritty and sopping. 

Katara has also taken to teaching Yue and Aang joint waterbending sessions. Aang brushes Appa and plays with Momo and gets pelted with rocks by a twelve year old for fun. 

For some reason a scary gaggle of teenage girls have started chasing them, Fire Nation emblem stamped on their oh-so-red armor. They're led by a pretty, sharp faced girl with a cunning smile and symmetrical hair that spins blue fire like it's nothing. Yue finds out that this is the Crown Princess, the sister of Zuko-from-the-siege. It's not surprising, as she and her brother basically share the same face, all straight features and angular eyes.

Her entourage is a bubbly acrobat in pink named Ty Lee and a unflinching, apathetic shuriken-wielder named Mai. They're heartbreakingly efficient.

She sourly decides she likes Zuko more after being ruthlessly herded for days without sleep by the cackling princess. They manage to shake them off their trail after an embarrassing curb-stomp fight.

Sokka hunts, and practices with his boomerang, and when he’s finished with both he waxes poetic about anyone that catches his eye to Yue. She’s learned that he falls hard and fast, in terms of love. 

From the girl with light sun-streaks in her hair to the merchant’s daughter with the kind eyes to the shifty, sharp looking woman that lingered outside a bar. They find a nice clearing with soft grass and lay down, either side by side or opposite of eachother, heads tucked close so she can garner all the details. 

  
  


Yue listens, and when Sokka tells her about the boy he saw at the dock, who had the most gorgeous hair you could ever imagine, Yue, like it was straight out of a spirit-tale, all wavy and dark and shit, she props herself on her elbow and looks at him with wide, wide eyes.

“Sokka,” she says, and the words dry in her throat. Sokka twists so that he can lay on his stomach and meet her gaze, hair hanging loose around his jaw. “I- you can- both? You can like both?” She manages to eek out, and suddenly Sokka laughs, high and cheery. “Yeah, Princess, you can.” 

  
  


They stew in relative silence for a moment, Sokka humming and Yue trying to collect her scrambled thoughts. “I think I do too. Like both, I mean.” Sokka reaches over and pats her hand. “Welcome to the club,” he cheers, and Yue laughs, feeling like her chest is about to burst with happiness. 

There's a pause, filled with amiable silence, “I think I had a crush on your sister,” she muses aloud, and Sokka sputters in response. 

* * *

Appa is gone, the eclipse is imminent, and Aang has gone mope-y and miserable. They're sitting in a dirty port next to a pregnant woman and her husband when a girl their age slides up and shakes her hair out of her helmet. “I can help you guys get through Serpent's Pass,” she grins, and Sokka’s eyes light up.

“SUKI,” he all but screams, flying forward and wrapping his arms around her. The girl, Suki, laughs, and pats his back. 

Yue is frozen, rooted to her spot. She’s sure that her face is on physical fire, her cheeks so warm it’s uncomfortable. Suki is the prettiest person Yue has ever seen. 

She has russet hair, cut to her jaw and pulled half-up. Her sharp, critical blue eyes, such a darker shade than Katara or Sokka’s, are luminously set in her round face. Her nose is flat, and when she turns to give Katara a warm hug and Aang a firm pat on the shoulder, Yue can see that it’s softly upturned. Her mouth has a cheery lilt, even while chapped and picked at in some places. 

When she finally meets Yue’s stupefied gaze head-long, her mouth forms an ‘o’ and her face flushes. “Hi,” she says after a pause where they just looked at each other for a minute. “I’m Suki.” 

She extends a hand, and Yue shakes herself out of her reverie. She clasps her hand and pumps it, once, like she’d practiced with Sokka after an awkward cultural hang-up with a cute boy at a port. 

“My name’s Yue,” she squeaks, and behind the curtain of Suki’s auburn hair she can see Sokka struggling to contain his laughter. Suki smiles, crookedly, and lets their hands drop.

  
  


Katara eyes the two girls with suspicion. “Right.” She lets the silence hang. “So, Suki, you said you’d help us through the Serpent’s Pass.” Suki coughs, and her cheeks redden further. “Yeah. Let me just clock in with my girls, then we can get on our way.” She shuffle-skips away, and the second she’s out of earshot Sokka laughs and laughs and laughs, so hard he’s silent and crying and doubled over. 

Yue buries her face in her hands and pulls her shoulders to her ears. “Stop laughing,” she complains, and kicks at the Southerner’s shins. 

He yelps, and wipes away his tears with the back of a finger. “Phew,” he says, still wheezing a little. “You’ve got it down bad.” Yue kicks him again. “It’s not my fault! Have you seen her? She’s gorgeous!” 

Sokka pats her on her shoulder, and then leans against her, slinging an arm around her neck, using her like an armrest. “Yeah, I've noticed. We kinda had a thing, but it’s been so long it’s probably fizzed out.” He sighs, and bumps their heads together.

She hums, and then pushes him off after a beat. “You are disgusting,” she says matter-of-factly. “All sweaty like a hogmonkey.”

  
  


Sokka clutches at his chest, mouth gaping. “How rude!” he sniffs, and pulls at her hair. He then looks over Yue’s head and grins, spinning her around by the arms.

  
  


Suki’s jogging towards them, having shed her chestplate and helmet, leaving her in a short-sleeved tunic and baggy pants, standard military-style boots. Her hair has been pulled up into a full ponytail, perspiration beading down her temples. 

Suki manages to make _sweating_ attractive, for Tui’s sake. Yue violently beats down her blush, and steels herself for the grueling trip they’re facing. They had a Pass to overcome.

* * *

“Holy shit.”

“Language.”

“That’s a spirit, has to be.”

“It looks angry.”

“And hungry.”

“Can all of you shut the hell up? I’m trying to think of a plan. Yue, help me freeze this thing.”

* * *

When they make it over, there's a lull of peace before the refugee woman’s face contorts in pain and she keens, grabbing at her stomach. “The baby’s coming,” she pants, and Katara looks grim as she instructs Toph to construct a rock tent. 

The waterbender sighs, shakes the fatigue from her eyes, and heads inside. Yue and Sokka grimace in unison, Suki pulling a face and Aang looking a little green around the gills. “Let’s settle in,” Suki said darkly, sitting cross-legged in the dust. “Births are _not_ fun.” 

  
  


Sokka sat down on a flattish rock a ways away, Aang next to him messing with some pebbles, and cast a wary look at the den. Screams and moans of pain were beginning to shrill over the soothing cadence of Katara’s voice. 

Yue grimaced, again. She sat next to Suki. They got to talking. Yue learned of the Kyoshi Warriors, of the rich culture of Suki’s Island, how she led a battalion of warriors to defend it. How she sweat and cried and bled for her homeland. How she was evicted from it. 

Yue holds the girl’s hand as it shakes, and begins to tell her of her own home. The icy walls and churning sea, just beyond her reach. The stifling expectations that came with being the daughter of the chieftain, of being chosen by the Moon. Protecting Tui from the invasion, and her escape. 

  
  


Suki palms Yue’s hair when she’s done, the white locks bundled behind her head in a ponytail. Her hair’s gotten rougher over the course of their journey, sand and grime and oil toughening it up.

A few pieces escaped the tie, and Suki brushes it away from her eyes. “I never would’ve thought,” she murmurs, looking awed. Her eyes rove, before meeting Yue’s. “how accurate the term spirit-blessed is to describe you.”

Suki’s eyes are such a deep blue, the Northerner thinks, murkily, like the polar sky. There has never been such a shade, it’s too rich and unknown. Yue softly wraps her fingers around Suki’s wrist. She holds it where it rests against her cheek, simply existing.

  
  


“Will you come with us?” she asks, ever-gentle even as hunger and longing claws at her chest, so strong she wants to keel over. 

Suki’s wobbly smile goes wobblier. “I want to, god, I want to so badly. But I can't leave my girls.” Yue rests her other hand on Suki’s shoulder. Perspiration beads down Suki’s neck, wetting where Yue’s knuckle rests against her skin. “We’ll be waiting.” 

* * *

They say goodbye at the edge of Ba Sing Se. Suki leaves Yue with a kiss to her cheek and a promise filled to the brim with want. They are welcomed with reverence, the Avatar and his prodigal friends. Yue observes, and catalogues. 

  
  


They get a house in the Upper Ring, a big one, ornate but sparse. Her friends, sans Toph, _ooh_ and _ahh_ , but Yue keeps observing. She doesn't acknowledge the hollow feeling that’s taken residence against her ribs ever since Suki’s left.

She notices how different each ring is, a stark difference between the decrepit Lower Ring, the run-down Middle Ring, and the extravagant Upper Ring.

She notices how vacant Joo Dee’s eyes are, how wide and empty her smile is. 

She notices the sly men in dark robes that follow her and her friends like a second shadow. 

At night, Yue dreams of tender moments spent with a pretty girl, heartache tearing her chest apart even from the confines of sleep.

Yue accumulates her evidence over their almost month-long stay in a clean folder, written in her sharpest kanji, and hides it under her futon. She quietly presents it on a rainy morning. 

Katara frowns, reaching over her teacup to palm at the papers that Yue’s produced. Her eyes scan the pages before widening, and she slaps a hand over her mouth. 

Toph perks up, long hair wild and untamed around her head. “What’s that? Sugar Queen’s heart just went crazy.” Aang peers over her shoulder, mouth thinning. His face is troubled. “Are you sure?” he asks, quietly, and Yue nods. 

Sokka glances at her, before easing the papers out of Katara’s hands. He hums a thoughtful noise aloud, and places them back on the table. The pressing silence stretches for minutes. 

Aang slams his palms onto the table. “If you’re so sure, then we have to talk to King Kuei, _right now_. He has to know what the Dai Lee is doing!” Katara tapped the newspaper. “Lucky for us, he’s having a party for his bear tonight. We can sneak in.”

Yue pulled the newspaper towards her, and scanned the columns. She frowned at the portrait of the bear. It looked wrong, naked almost, like a mutated ottorpenguin she once saw. 

“That’s messed up,” she decided. “Anyways, Toph, Katara and I can pose as Nobles to get in.” Toph grinned, cracking her knuckles one-by-one, and Katara put her head in her hands. 

“Shopping!” Sokka clapped.

* * *

  
  


Yue pinched the shiny new robes. The silk felt slimy against her skin. Katara slapped away her hands without looking, and Yue flushed. “Sorry,” she murmured, and Katara turned to smile gently.

After a brush-up of noble customs with Toph and a harrowing morning spent shopping for expensive outfits with Sokka, the three had spent most of the day at a salon. Yue barely managed not to squeak. 

Katara was so pretty, the makeup the salon had piled on her bringing out the brilliance of her eyes and smoothing the flaws in her skin. Her hair was twisted back away from her face. Her robes were neutral-colored, sage green and burnt umber and ochre yellow. She looked radiant.

Toph grunted, and tugged harshly at Yue’s long hair. She had worn it down for the party, and it tickled the fabric around her waist. Yue scowled and jerked back. “Cool it down, Miss Prim and Proper,” the tiny earthbender grinned. She twirled a fan between nimble, calloused fingers. “I can hear your heartbeat going berserk.” 

Yue huffed, and reluctantly pushed away the dreamy thoughts of one of her dearest friends. She mentally steeled herself for the nightmare that was publicity parties. _Ugh_ , she thought, bitterly. _Rich people are the worst._

* * *

Unsurprisingly, Sokka and Aang were abysmal at pretending to be bus-boys, and got caught almost immediately. “King Kuei!” Aang shouts, catching the attention of the bespeckled man at the head of the festivities. The king looks startled. Aang is uncharacteristically stormy, grinding his teeth as he talks. “We need to talk in private.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot but it got too hefty oops lol


End file.
